The Cox Clan of 5

Here's the deal: It's the 3rd Friday in August and opening night for high school football in Tennessee and needless to say, We Are Excited!

There are a couple of things that excite me about football....When Chad and I were still in college he was afforded the opportunity to begin coaching after an injury and 2nd ACL knee surgery. In 2001 while at a chapel service at Carson-Newman College, we recieved news of the 9/11 tragedy that we will forever remember. That week as a whole was a blur, however one thing stands out to me very vividly. That week at the JCHS stadium a good friend of ours and announcer at the football games said before the game started, "From White Pine to Rush Strong, From Jefferson City to Dandridge, now more than ever, YOU ARE IN PATRIOT COUNTRY!" That has stuck with me ever since. He said it at every home game for the rest of the season and I think for every game until he stopped announcing and I think I got chills and tears in my eyes every time.

Also when Chad started coaching he told me that his all time favorite "get fired up for football song" is Phil Collins "In The Air Tonight." And we try to play it for him on Friday mornings in the Fall. And hopefully if I think about it, I will text him at around kickoff and just write a few lines...let him know I can feel it in the air tonight too....

And a new favorite of ours is Kenny Chesney's "The Boys of Fall." Honestly, I cried the first time we watched the video...more than anything because of the coach in the video that says, "My daddy never saw me play football. Play for your father's tonight!" Chad's dad never saw him play his senior year and it hit me like a ton of bricks. Also, there are kids who's fathers don't give a rip if they are playing football. Those kids are the biggest reason I can tolerate Chad coaching football. Because he loves those kids like he loves his own and he worries and frets over them like he does Molly, Cooper, and Brody and he has given them gas money to get home on Friday nights and checked on them Saturday mornings to see if they are all right. There are a few lines in the song that give me chills and I know they do Chad too - I think the plan is to show the boys the video tonight before they go out for kickoff. Talk about being fired up! I wish I could be in that stinky, smelly locker room with them!

So, for those of you that have known me all my life, you know that I am a Pioneer thru and thru but tonight, I am very excited to be a Patriot!